The Year in Charts 2020: The Weeknd’s ‘Blinding Lights’ Is the No. 1 Hot 100 Song of the Year
The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" is the No. 1 Billboard Hot Song of 2020. Plus, hits by Roddy Ricch, Post Malone and BTS reign in year-end streams, radio airplay and sales, respectively.
The Weeknd‘s record-shattering single “Blinding Lights” finishes 2020 as the year’s top Billboard Hot 100 song.
Billboard’s year-end music recaps represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts dated Nov. 23, 2019, through Nov. 14, 2020. The rankings for Nielsen Music/MRC Data-based year-end recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the titles appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology detail, and the November-November time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Nielsen Music/MRC Data.
Explore All of Billboard’s 2020 Year-End Charts
SHINING ‘LIGHTS’
“Blinding Lights” leads the 2020 Hot 100 Songs recap after it spent four weeks at No. 1, becoming The Weeknd’s fifth and most recent leader, on the weekly Hot 100 in April and May. The song has since broken records for the most weeks spent in the top five and the top 10 among all titles in the chart’s 62-year history.
The song’s ’80s vibe is a favorite of The Weeknd’s, as he told Billboard in April, “I’ve always had an admiration for the era before I was born. You can hear as far back as my first mixtape [2011’s House of Balloons] that the ’80s — Siouxsie & the Banshees, Cocteau Twins — play such a huge role in my sound. Sometimes it helps me create a new sound and sometimes it’s just obvious. I’m just glad the world’s into it now.”
The Weeknd boasts his first No. 1 on a year-end Hot 100 Songs survey. He previously ranked in the region in 2015, when his “Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey)” and “The Hills” wrapped at Nos. 9 and 10, respectively.
Following on the 2020 Hot 100 Songs recap, Post Malone’s “Circles” is the year’s No. 2 hit, while Roddy Ricch’s “The Box” finishes at No. 3. Rounding out the top five are Dua Lipa’s “Don’t Start Now” and DaBaby’s “Rockstar,” featuring Roddy Ricch, at Nos. 4 and 5, respectively.
Harry Styles’ “Adore You” ranks at No. 6 on the 2020 Hot 100 Songs list, while Future’s “Life Is Good,” featuring Drake, is No. 7. Elsewhere in the top 10, Maroon 5’s “Memories,” Maren Morris’ “The Bones” and Lewis Capaldi’s “Someone You Loved” place at Nos. 8, 9 and 10, respectively.
Notably, Morris’ country crossover smash “The Bones” ranks in the Hot 100’s year-end top 10 after having not made the weekly top 10, as it peaked at No. 12 in April. The song’s longevity benefits it on the year-end recap, as it charted in the top 40 each week from mid-January through September. “The Bones” is the first song to place in the year-end top 10 after falling shy of the weekly top 10 since Paula Cole’s “I Don’t Want to Wait,” which finished at No. 10 for all of 1998; it peaked at No. 11 that January (and, similar to Morris’ hit, logged eight consecutive months in the weekly top 40).
RODDY RICCH, POST MALONE & BTS ALSO RULE YEAR-END CHARTS
The Hot 100 blends all-genre U.S. streaming (official audio and official video), radio airplay and sales data, and the year-end Streaming Songs, Radio Songs and Digital Song Sales song recaps each sport distinct 2020 year-end No. 1s.
Roddy Ricch’s “The Box” tops the year-end Streaming Songs chart, Post Malone’s’ “Circles” crowns the Radio Songs recap and BTS’ “Dynamite” leads the Digital Song Sales chart.
Each act earns its first year-end No. 1 on each respective ranking. “The Box” led the weekly Streaming Songs chart for 10 weeks, “Circles” topped Radio Songs for 11 weeks and “Dynamite” ruled Digital Song Sales for 10 frames. The tracks paced the Hot 100 for 11, three and three weeks, respectively.
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The Weeknd’s “Blinding Lights” wraps the year at No. 2 on both Radio Songs and Digital Song Sales and No. 3 on Streaming Songs, with its top-three multimetric performance sparking its No. 1 finish on the Hot 100. (“The Box” ends 2020 at No. 15 on Radio Songs and No. 22 on Digital Song Sales; “Circles” ranks at No. 4 for the year on Digital Song Sales and No. 5 on Streaming Songs; “Dynamite,” due in part to its release much later than those two songs, in August, makes only the year-end sales survey. This year marks the first in which all three charts have co-existed, dating to the Streaming Songs list’s 2013 inception, that the year-end No. 1 on Hot 100 Songs claims the title without leading any of the three component rankings.)
THE WEEKND’S BIG YEAR
The Weeknd additionally dominates the 2020 year-end Hot 100 Artists chart. He achieves his second No. 1 rank, following his win in 2015.
The Weeknd is one of a dozen acts with multiple first-place finishes in the 50 years that Billboard has compiled the year-end Hot 100 Artists recap (dating to the first in 1971). Michael Jackson leads with three titles, in 1972, 1980 and 1983, followed by two each for Gladys Knight & the Pips (1973-74), Madonna (1985, 1987), Janet Jackson (1986, 1990), Mariah Carey (1991, 1996), TLC (1995, 1999), Usher (1998, 2004), Destiny’s Child (2000-01), 50 Cent (2003, 2005), Katy Perry (2011, 2014) and Drake (2016, 2018).
Roddy Ricch follows at No. 2 on the 2020 Hot 100 Artists chart, with DaBaby (No. 3), Lil Baby (No. 4) and Dua Lipa (No. 5) rounding out the top five. All four acts earn their highest placements on the annual survey, after landing their highest-charting hits on the weekly Hot 100 during 2020: Roddy Ricch ruled with “The Box” and as featured on DaBaby’s seven-week No. 1 “Rockstar,” also the latter’s highest-peaking hit; Lil Baby reached No. 3 with “The Bigger Picture”; and Dua Lipa rose to No. 2 with “Don’t Start Now.”
